Aasiya wins, retains clan’s 70-yr control on Barabanki village

Ayodhya: Aasiya Khatoon, 45, has won the panchayat poll for village pradhan on Sunday from Daringapur village in Barabanki, continuing the uninterrupted victory run of Haji Mohammad Ali’s family, which has held sway over the village since the first rural polls in Uttar Pradesh in 1952.
A village pradhan in her last tenure, Aasiya is the third generation of the family, whose members have never lost a rural election since their patriarch, Mohammad Ali, won the first pradhan’s election seven decades ago.Daringapur is a hamlet in Risauli Gauspur subdivision of Barabanki.
Talking to TOI, Aasiya said, “I am the daughter-in-law of the family and I am taking the legacy forward. My husband's grandfather Haji Mohammad Ali was elected unopposed in the first gram pradhan election in 1952. And he remained village head till his death in 1965. The mantle was passed on to my father-in-law, Faqeer Baksh, who was elected and continued in the post till 1995. After the seat was reserved for women, my mother-in-law, Hajira Khatoon, was elected and she held sway till 2005.”